no, folks, not a joke!

venturebeat.com/2013/05/22/amazon-introduces-kindle-worlds-for-selling-fanfiction/

www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001197421

No way. While interesting and yay people can earn money... That seems really wrong. Fanfiction has always been free and something that people have done for fun or as practice. D:

Well... it is for a very limited fan-market at the moment. (Although L.J. Smith is like... my all-time-favorite author from what I was 11, and Vampire Diaries has gotten so popular... so I am happy about that.)

So.. Inuyasha and whatnot is not going to be marketable, and likely will not be for some time.

And it doesn't appear that the percentages offered are that fantastic compared to the sales price... it all depends on what they are selling the fan fictions for, and the word count.. etc... So if the average fan fiction is sold for $9.99 (and that is what they sell digital BOOKS for) then the author would only get $3.50 per download. I imagine they will NOT be selling for that much It says something about the average story being $1.00, so that is .35 per DL, so you'd need a pretty big fan base in order to make a reasonable profit from it.

It'll be interesting to see where this'll lead. I suppose .35 is better than nothing, and I imagine that some fanfiction writers would make it to where their stuff is only found on Amazon, so... they have the potential to force the market.

Meh. Rambling. POTENTIALLY COOL BEANS EITHER WAY.

I heard about this some time back, when it was first announced. I can of course only offer my opinion, like anyone, but I have to offer the warning anyway - be very careful if this is something you are interested in to read ALL the details. The authors of this "paid fanfiction" will get very little profit...and anything that is written into the fan pieces will become the property of the "worlds" and those who are running them. This means if you create an original character, or a really awesome type of magic, or some special weapon of doom...it no longer belongs to you, and you will never be able to use it in original fiction not related to the fandom. For some this might not matter; others might not care; however it threw me off completely and so I say again - write very carefully if you're going to write for this.

Also be aware, this is only for specific small "worlds" - and that the normal type of fanfiction may in fact be endangered, legally speaking, by the creation of "paid fanfiction" - which in reality has always existed, for those like Kevin Anderson who wrote numerous "sequels" to the original star wars films, and others like him.

(Sorry! Been thinking on this all night and morning.)

Well, I understand that fan-fiction has always been considered as "free", just as fan art has been. (and most companies are cool with it, as long as it is that... free.)

Now I know in the past few years there have been "con police" going around to random conventions and shutting down people who are selling fan art. (Unless you are the original artist/ have company permission/ work for the company/ you get my drift....)

Also, with places selling prints, like deviant art, etc, you can make a few bucks selling fan art in different sizes. Although it is not legal... people still do it. It isn't as enforced as it probably should be.

So it doesn't shock me that fan fiction is taking the same turn. I am surprised that dA hasn't tried to figure out some way to sell fan fiction yet.

I just feel that for the effort, the profit isn't there. If a fan fiction writer put years of work into a fan fiction, they might come out making.. 35 bucks. However, if they spend that time developing, researching, and applying themselves, they could have a more profitable career as an original author.

Then you have to take a look at people like Cassandra Clare who more or less MADE their career off of converting Harry Potter fan fiction into "original fiction". And then that 50 Shades of Grey author.. uh E.L. James? Yeah. Well, that was just Twilight fan fiction that was converted over.

So that fine line that has been maintained has been crossed on an "official" and "professional" level. While beneficial for up-and-coming creators, I can see a lot of original publishers/ companies NOT liking this idea. Or REALLY liking it... like someone pointed out, all of your original stuff becomes intellectual property of the original publishers/creators. So more or less... you're doing their job for them.

It all depends on what the creator wants to put into it I guess. If you are okay with potentially seeing your creation down the line, with no credit or royalties, then cool.

I think it's just a matter of what you wouldn't mind seeing passed into someone else's hands. Most of my fanfiction wouldn't even be allowed. Crossover isn't possible even in the few stories they cover fanfic stories for. (I write a lot of crossover these days.) It also doesn't really mention AU stuff - only that someone else goes over it and they decide if it's good or not. (I write a lot of AU too XD).

Any of my fictions with original characters I immediately wouldn't use. So that cuts me down to pretty much none that I would risk writing over to them. However, I could see a few people writing stories that could make them a little bit of money. If it's also for fun then I think it's a good idea. I wouldn't pursue it as a way to make a lot of income however.

I see everyones points. And I'll admit fanart is sold. (was thinking about that last night.) And while I do think it's nice as side income for people... I guess part of me was worried if this became a big thing and branched out what it would mean for fanfiction. But then again I'm being silly. People have to submit their work to it, and there will always be free sites. And Who am I to say they shouldn't try it.

Also if the creator is fine with it, then ... I guess it doesn't really matter. But as everyone has pointed out, do not submit a fic with original characters in it.

I don't think fanfiction should be sold. This is just my opinion, but fanfiction is something we all do for fun and we share with everyone because we want to, not because it provides us with income. I would just hate to see some of the fanfiction that I really enjoy being sold and me not having enough money to buy it. That's the same with books and I hate it!

EVERYTHING SHOULD BE FREE!

Just kidding. Seriously, I like fanfiction where it's at, really, but that's just me :3

I like my characters too much to give control of them away. Though truthfully only one is known presently still I wouldn't put my fanfiction up for sale. I would just make it an original work and try to sell that.

Just want to add here; about the 35% royalties... that's standard across the board for everything in most houses, but self published and a few very odd ones. Standard runs from 30-45(that's usually limited to a certain time frame)%, until you hit JK Rowling or Stephen King standard, then you kinda get to dictate. So, this is not a lowball of anything for the royalties.

But what are they charging per story? Or are they charging per chapter...? Per word count...?

I think the article said something along the lines of Anything under 10,000 words is 20%, and anything over is 35%-- but it also quoted that "stories" are sold for $1.00 a DL. So... is fan fiction considered "stories", or will it be more along the lines of word count...?

So many unanswered questions! If someone wrote a good novel length fic-- say something the length of a Harry Potter book, Amazon could sell it for 7.99. But you would also need a willing fan base to purchase. So it really IS an iffy venture. A lot of fic writers have a good fan base, but it is a base built upon a free enterprise. If an author suddenly pulled everything and made it to where their fans would have to DL their works ( for anywhere to $1-$??) I could imagine that the fans would be like "Okay dude, it was a nice run, but... yeah... later!"

Not to say fans DON'T try to help, I just know that (from experience) once money becomes involved people either tend to find other authors (artists) to be interested in, or start making ridiculous demands of the creators. (Hence making the job no fun any longer.)

Personally, I WISH fan-media was a profitable venture considering how much time people spend in it. Unfortunately, *because* of its very nature, most people will not be willing to pay for it. =/ So... it may do well, but I imagine it'll be nowhere near glamorous, and the feedback/comments/praise/critiques etc that a previously free author had will likely dwindle.

But, it is all about the creator and what they are willing to do.

But what are they charging per story? Or are they charging per chapter...? Per word count...?

For standard publishing, I don't know what Amazon is doing here, the rate is flat no matter the size. The price per 'book' depends on the wordcount.

So many unanswered questions! If someone wrote a good novel length fic-- say something the length of a Harry Potter book, Amazon could sell it for 7.99. But you would also need a willing fan base to purchase. So it really IS an iffy venture. A lot of fic writers have a good fan base, but it is a base built upon a free enterprise. If an author suddenly pulled everything and made it to where their fans would have to DL their works ( for anywhere to $1-$??) I could imagine that the fans would be like "Okay dude, it was a nice run, but... yeah... later!"

Not to say fans DON'T try to help, I just know that (from experience) once money becomes involved people either tend to find other authors (artists) to be interested in, or start making ridiculous demands of the creators. (Hence making the job no fun any longer.)

And this is the gospel truth. You cannot count on your fan-base to buy something, as some authors have found out much to their dismay. No offense to readers out there, but most people who follow you will never pay for anything you do. If you convert it to an original and put it up for sale, what you're going to see is plenty on like yahoo groups begging for the original to read that so they don't have to pay. An example of this, though I won't give a name, is one that wrote in Harry Potter. She had an amazing talent and turned out wonderful stories. When she mentioned trying to self publish something. Many of her legions of fans encouraged and swore they would buy it. When she did, they didn't. And she was furious over it, something I don't blame her for. That's the way it tends to run and most of us know it. So, to even attempt this, you need to go in realizing that you are going to lose the majority of the fans that followed you because they aren't going to fork over even a couple bucks to buy something when they feel it's their right to get it free.

This is risky. Read the terms there. None of them are good when it comes to the authors. The only ones you may have better luck with are what are called 'dead fandoms', meaning the originals that they are based on are over, like Inuyasha and Harry Potter. If they aren't, you run the risk of someone making a great deal of money off something you did because you don't own the rights to it anymore. That is clear in there. Once that happens, you have no legal leg to stand on to get any money out of it beyond what you made. And all legal liabilities are on your head if something happens. Same if it's plagiarized. That's clear in the terms.

In my mind, and just IMO here, this is appealing to some that are dying to get published because they get fans telling them how great it is. They would sign about anything to do it without reading what it is and understanding the full consequences of what they are doing. That and the younger set (no offense there to ones that are younger).

My end? No, I won't ever do it. Period. I don't see it as worthwhile to even try. If I want to do something with some of my fanfics, I'll convert them to an original work, if possible, and try that. Most? They will stay what they are and remain free, though locked down, sadly.

It might seem like fun to jump to the next level in this way, but I'd be really careful about any agreement I made with any company. Even in real life, when you go to work for a company, you need to think about signing non-competition clauses. What kind of rights would Amazon hold as far as your writing is concerned? On a really paranoid day, I'd be concerned about whether they had some rights to an author's future writing. On the other hand, Josh Lanyon, a slash author who is very popular, sells his long novels and some of his novellas in book form on Amazon, but some of his novellas are only available for purchase through Amazon for Kindle or other electronic readers. He is a high-quality writer. If slash does not bother you, his Adrien English mystery series is awesome! And he seems to make a full-time living through his writing, and also seems to have a very cozy relationship with Amazon. I read another book from a small publisher in England, and liked it so much I went in search of anything I could find about the author, hoping to find more books. I didn't find any more books by the author, but found her listed in fanlore, and found out that the book I had enjoyed had started out as fanfiction, and it got published after the names and a few details got changed out. And of course, there is the quintessential fanfic strange-but-true story. A couple really loved "The Sentinel", a television show from the mid-90s. They wrote Sentinel fanfiction, and when they came into some money, they decided to use it to make a movie, starring one of the main actors from the show. They hired Garrett Maggart and another actor, who had appeared in one episode of "The Sentinel", to film a vampire movie entitled "Demon Under Glass". It was pretty low-budget, but actually has a plot, and quite a fanbase itself. Which spawned fanfiction of its own. Some of which did get printed in three books. So never say never, right?

Wow, that almost sounds unprincipled. I dunno. I'd really carefully read that Amazon agreement before signing up. I mean if they defer responsibility for legal action against the fanfic being sold as paid content, well, yah that's a red-herring for danger.

Sounds kinda fishy.

I dunno.

I'd steer clear of it. Seriously. Unless you have actual permission from the people that own the fandom to publish your work for profit, yah, you're treading on thin ice.

I mean it's acceptable if you change the fanfiction to original work. The fandom characters morph into your own, cause you'd change them, but I mean if you didn't, say like if 50 Shades of Grey had stayed as a Twilight fanfiction, instead of being altered, yah, and it had been published as is, yah we would have heard of the legal proceedings.

Ouch.

~ Pyre

Once again, the Corporate underbelly has decided to rise to the occasion of profiteering off the souls of readers.

But as it always does, some writers will write it and some readers will purchase it.

I will however, remain steadfast in ignoring this development. I am sure civilisation will survive without it.